Gogol the story of the auditor read in full. Auditor (collection) - Gogol Nikolai

Notes for gentlemen actors

Everyone sits down around both Petrov Ivanovichs.

Well, what, what is it?

Everyone leaves.

Event VI

Anna Andreevna and Marya Antonovna run onto the stage.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol

There is nothing to blame on the mirror if the face is crooked.

folk proverb

Comedy in five acts

Characters

Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, mayor.

Anna Andreevna, his wife.

Maria Antonovna, his daughter.

Luka Lukich Khlopov, superintendent of schools.

Wife his.

Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin, judge.

Artemy Filippovich Strawberry, trustee of charitable institutions.

Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin, postmaster.

Petr Ivanovich Dobchinsky, urban landowner.

Petr Ivanovich Bobchinsky, urban landowner.

Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov, an official from St. Petersburg.

Osip, his servant.

Christian Ivanovich Gibner, county physician.

Fedor Ivanovich Lyulyukov

Ivan Lazarevich Rastakovskiy, a retired official, an honorary person in the city.

Stepan Ivanovich Korobkin, a retired official, an honorary person in the city.

Stepan Ilyich Ukhovertov, private bailiff.

Svistunov, police officer

Buttons, police officer

Derzhimorda, police officer

Abdulin, merchant.

Fevronya Petrovna Poshlepkina, locksmith.

Non-commissioned officer's wife.

bear, servant of the mayor.

Servant of the tavern.

Guests and guests, merchants, petty bourgeois, petitioners.

Characters and costumes

Notes for gentlemen actors

Mayor, already aged in the service and a very intelligent person in his own way. Although he is a bribe-taker, he behaves very respectably; quite serious; somewhat even a reasoner; speaks neither loudly nor softly, neither more nor less. His every word is significant. His features are rough and hard, like those of anyone who has begun his service from the lower ranks. The transition from fear to joy, from rudeness to arrogance is quite quick, like a person with a roughly developed inclination of the soul. He is dressed, as usual, in his uniform with buttonholes and boots with spurs. His hair is short, with grey.

Anna Andreevna, his wife, a provincial coquette, not yet quite old, brought up half on novels and albums, half on chores in her pantry and girl's. Very curious and on occasion shows vanity. Sometimes she takes power over her husband only because he does not find what to answer her; but this power extends only to trifles and consists only in reprimands and ridicule. She changes into different dresses four times throughout the play.

Khlestakov, a young man of about twenty-three, thin, thin; somewhat stupid and, as they say, without a king in his head - one of those people who are called empty in the offices. He speaks and acts without any thought. He is unable to stop the constant focus on any thought. His speech is abrupt, and words fly out of his mouth quite unexpectedly. The more the person who plays this role shows sincerity and simplicity, the more he will benefit. Dressed in fashion.

Osip, a servant, such as servants of a few older years usually are. He speaks earnestly, looks down a little, is a reasoner, and likes to lecture himself for his master. His voice is always almost even, in conversation with the master it takes on a stern, abrupt and even somewhat rude expression. He is smarter than his master and therefore guesses more quickly, but he does not like to talk much and is a rogue in silence. His suit is a gray or worn frock coat.

Bobchinsky And Dobchinsky, both short, short, very curious; extremely similar to each other; both with small bellies; both speak in a patter and help tremendously with gestures and hands. Dobchinsky is a little taller and more serious than Bobchinsky, but Bobchinsky is bolder and livelier than Dobchinsky.

Lyapkin-Tyapkin, a judge, a person who has read five or six books and therefore is somewhat freethinking. The hunter is great at guessing, and therefore he gives weight to his every word. The person representing him must always keep a significant mine in his face. He speaks in a bass with an oblong drawl, wheezing and glanders - like an old clock that hisses first and then strikes.

strawberries, the trustee of charitable institutions, a very fat, clumsy and clumsy person, but for all that he is a sly and a rogue. Very helpful and fussy.

Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, mayor.

Anna Andreevna, his wife.

Maria Antonovna, his daughter.

Luka Lukich Khlopov, superintendent of schools.

Wife his.

Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin, judge.

Artemy Filippovich Strawberry, trustee of charitable institutions.

Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin, postmaster.

Petr Ivanovich Dobchinsky, urban landowner.

Petr Ivanovich Bobchinsky, urban landowner.

Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov, an official from St. Petersburg.

Osip, his servant.

Christian Ivanovich Gibner, county physician.

Fedor Ivanovich Lyulyukov

Ivan Lazarevich Rastakovskiy, a retired official, an honorary person in the city.

Stepan Ivanovich Korobkin, a retired official, an honorary person in the city.

Stepan Ilyich Ukhovertov, private bailiff.

Svistunov, police officer

Buttons, police officer

Derzhimorda, police officer

Abdulin, merchant.

Fevronya Petrovna Poshlepkina, locksmith.

Non-commissioned officer's wife.

bear, servant of the mayor.

Servant of the tavern.

Guests and guests, merchants, petty bourgeois, petitioners.

Notes for gentlemen actors

Mayor, already aged in the service and a very intelligent person in his own way. Although he is a bribe-taker, he behaves very respectably; quite serious; somewhat even a reasoner; speaks neither loudly nor softly, neither more nor less. His every word is significant. His features are rough and hard, like those of anyone who has begun his service from the lower ranks. The transition from fear to joy, from rudeness to arrogance is quite quick, like a person with a roughly developed inclination of the soul. He is dressed, as usual, in his uniform with buttonholes and boots with spurs. His hair is short, with grey.

Anna Andreevna, his wife, a provincial coquette, not yet quite old, brought up half on novels and albums, half on chores in her pantry and girl's. Very curious and on occasion shows vanity. Sometimes she takes power over her husband only because he does not find what to answer her; but this power extends only to trifles and consists only in reprimands and ridicule. She changes into different dresses four times throughout the play.

Khlestakov, a young man of about twenty-three, thin, thin; somewhat stupid and, as they say, without a king in his head - one of those people who are called empty in the offices. He speaks and acts without any thought. He is unable to stop the constant focus on any thought. His speech is abrupt, and words fly out of his mouth quite unexpectedly. The more the person who plays this role shows sincerity and simplicity, the more he will benefit. Dressed in fashion.

Osip, a servant, such as servants of a few older years usually are. He speaks earnestly, looks down a little, is a reasoner, and likes to lecture himself for his master. His voice is always almost even, in conversation with the master it takes on a stern, abrupt and even somewhat rude expression. He is smarter than his master and therefore guesses more quickly, but he does not like to talk much and is a rogue in silence. His suit is a gray or worn frock coat.

Bobchinsky And Dobchinsky, both short, short, very curious; extremely similar to each other; both with small bellies; both speak in a patter and help tremendously with gestures and hands. Dobchinsky is a little taller and more serious than Bobchinsky, but Bobchinsky is bolder and livelier than Dobchinsky.

Lyapkin-Tyapkin, a judge, a person who has read five or six books and therefore is somewhat freethinking. The hunter is great at guessing, and therefore he gives weight to his every word. The person representing him must always keep a significant mine in his face. He speaks in a bass with an oblong drawl, wheezing and glanders - like an old clock that hisses first and then strikes.

strawberries, the trustee of charitable institutions, a very fat, clumsy and clumsy person, but for all that he is a sly and a rogue. Very helpful and fussy.

Postmaster, a simple-minded person to the point of naivety.

Other roles do not require special explanation. Their originals are almost always in front of your eyes.

Gentlemen actors especially should pay attention to the last scene. The last spoken word should produce an electrical shock on everyone at once, all of a sudden. The whole group must change position in the blink of an eye. The sound of astonishment should break out from all women at once, as if from one breast. From non-observance of these remarks, the whole effect may disappear.

Room in the mayor's house

Mayor, trustee of charitable institutions, superintendent of schools, judge, private bailiff, doctor, two quarterly.

Mayor. I have invited you, gentlemen, in order to tell you the unpleasant news: an auditor is coming to visit us.

Ammos Fedorovich. How is the auditor?

Artemy Filippovich. How is the auditor?

Mayor. An auditor from St. Petersburg, incognito. And with a secret order.

Ammos Fedorovich. Here are those on!

Artemy Filippovich. There was no concern, so give it up!

Luka Lukic. Lord God! even with a secret order!

Mayor. I seemed to have a presentiment: all night long I dreamed of two extraordinary rats. Really, I've never seen anything like it: black, unnatural size! came, sniffed - and went away. Here I will read you a letter that I received from Andrey Ivanovich Chmykhov, whom you, Artemy Filippovich, know. Here is what he writes: “Dear friend, godfather and benefactor (mumbles in an undertone, quickly running his eyes)… and notify you.” A! Here: “I hasten, by the way, to notify you that an official has arrived with an order to inspect the entire province and especially our district (significantly raises a finger up). I learned this from the most reliable people, although he presents himself as a private individual. Since I know that you, like everyone else, have sins, because you are a smart person and do not like to miss what floats in your hands ... " (stopping), well, here are your own ... "then I advise you to take precautions, because he can arrive at any hour, unless he has already arrived and lives somewhere incognito ... Yesterday I ... "Well, then family matters began: "... sister Anna Kirillovna came to us with her husband; Ivan Kirillovich has become very fat and still plays the violin ... ”- and so on and so forth. So here is the circumstance!

Ammos Fedorovich. Yes, the circumstance is… extraordinary, simply extraordinary. Something out of the blue.

Luka Lukic. Why, Anton Antonovich, why is this? Why do we need an auditor?

Mayor. For what! So, apparently, fate! (Sighing.) Until now, thanks be to God, they have been approaching other cities; Now it's our turn.

Ammos Fedorovich. I think, Anton Antonovich, that there is a subtle and more political reason. This means this: Russia… yes… wants to wage war, and the ministry, you see, sent an official to find out if there was treason somewhere.

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Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol
Auditor

© Publishing House "Children's Literature". Design of the series, 2003

© V. A. Voropaev. Introductory article, 2003

© I. A. Vinogradov, V. A. Voropaev. Comments, 2003

© V. Britvin. Illustrations, 2003

* * *

What did Gogol laugh at? On the spiritual meaning of the comedy "The Government Inspector"

Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For whoever hears the word and does not fulfill it is like a man who examines the natural features of his face in a mirror. He looked at himself, walked away, and immediately forgot what he was like.

Jacob. 1, 22-24

My heart hurts when I see how wrong people are. They talk about virtue, about God, but meanwhile do nothing.

From Gogol's letter to his mother. 1833

The Inspector General is the best Russian comedy. Both in reading and in staging on stage, she is always interesting. Therefore, it is generally difficult to talk about any failure of the Inspector General. But, on the other hand, it is also difficult to create a real Gogol performance, to make those sitting in the hall laugh with bitter Gogol's laughter. As a rule, something fundamental, deep, on which the whole meaning of the play is based, eludes the actor or spectator.

The premiere of the comedy, which took place on April 19, 1836 on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, according to contemporaries, had colossal success. The mayor was played by Ivan Sosnitsky, Khlestakov Nikolai Dur - the best actors of that time. “The general attention of the audience, applause, sincere and unanimous laughter, the challenge of the author<…>, - recalled Prince Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky, - there was no shortage of anything.

But this success almost immediately began to seem somehow strange. Incomprehensible feelings gripped both artists and spectators. The confession of the actor Pyotr Grigoriev, who played the role of judge Lyapkin-Tyapkin, is characteristic: “... this play is still some kind of mystery for all of us. At the first performance, they laughed loudly and a lot, supported strongly - it will be necessary to wait for how everyone will appreciate it over time, but for our brother, the actor, she is such a new work that we may not yet be able to appreciate it once or twice ".

Even the most ardent admirers of Gogol did not fully understand the meaning and significance of the comedy; the majority of the public took it as a farce. Memoirist Pavel Vasilyevich Annenkov noticed the unusual reaction of the audience: “Already after the first act, bewilderment was written on all faces (the audience was elected in the full sense of the word), as if no one knew how to think about the picture just presented. This bewilderment increased later with each act. As if finding comfort in the mere assumption that a farce is being given, the majority of the audience, knocked out of all theatrical expectations and habits, settled on this assumption with unshakable determination. However, in this farce there were features and phenomena filled with such vital truth that once or twice<…>there was general laughter. A completely different thing happened in the fourth act: from time to time laughter still flew from one end of the hall to another, but it was somehow timid laughter, which immediately disappeared; there was almost no applause at all; but intense attention, convulsive, intensified following of all the shades of the play, sometimes dead silence showed that the thing that was happening on the stage passionately captured the hearts of the audience.

The play was perceived by the public in different ways. Many saw in it a caricature of the Russian bureaucracy, and in its author a rebel. According to Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov, there were people who hated Gogol from the very appearance of The Inspector General. So, Count Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy (nicknamed the American) said at a crowded meeting that Gogol was "an enemy of Russia and that he should be sent in shackles to Siberia." Censor Alexander Vasilyevich Nikitenko wrote in his diary on April 28, 1836: “Gogol’s comedy The Inspector General made a lot of noise. It is constantly given - almost every day.<…>Many believe that the government is wrong in approving this play, in which it is so cruelly condemned.

Meanwhile, it is reliably known that the comedy was allowed to be staged (and, consequently, to print) due to the highest resolution. Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich read the comedy in manuscript and approved it; according to another version, the Inspector General was read to the king in the palace. On April 29, 1836, Gogol wrote to Mikhail Semenovich Shchepkin: “If it were not for the high intercession of the Sovereign, my play would not have been on the stage for anything, and there were already people who were fussing about banning it.” The Sovereign Emperor not only attended the premiere himself, but also ordered the ministers to watch The Inspector General. During the performance, he clapped and laughed a lot, and leaving the box, he said: “Well, a play! Everyone got it, but I got it more than anyone!”

Gogol hoped to meet the support of the king and was not mistaken. Shortly after the comedy was staged, he answered his ill-wishers in Theatrical Journey: “The magnanimous government, deeper than you, has seen with a high mind the goal of the writer.”

In striking contrast to the seemingly undoubted success of the play, Gogol’s bitter confession sounds: “The Inspector General” has been played - and my heart is so vague, so strange ... I expected, I knew in advance how things would go, and for all that, I feel sad and annoying - burdensome has enveloped me. But my creation seemed to me disgusting, wild and as if not at all mine ”(“ An excerpt from a letter written by the author shortly after the first presentation of The Inspector General to a certain writer ”).

Gogol's dissatisfaction with the premiere and the rumors around it ("everyone is against me") was so great that, despite the insistent requests of Pushkin and Shchepkin, he refused to participate in the production of the play in Moscow and soon went abroad. Many years later, Gogol wrote to Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky: “The performance of The Inspector General made a painful impression on me. I was angry both at the audience, who did not understand me, and at myself, who was to blame for the fact that they did not understand me. I wanted to get away from everything."

Comic in the "Inspector"

Gogol was, it seems, the only one who took the first production of The Inspector General as a failure. What is the matter here that did not satisfy the author? In part, the discrepancy between the old vaudeville techniques in the design of the performance and the completely new spirit of the play, which did not fit into the framework of ordinary comedy. Gogol emphatically warns: “Most of all, you need to be afraid not to fall into a caricature. Nothing should be exaggerated or trivial, even in the last roles ”(“ Forewarning for those who would like to play The Examiner properly).

Creating the images of Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, Gogol imagined them “in the skin” (in his words) of Shchepkin and Vasily Ryazantsev, famous comic actors of that era. In the performance, according to him, "it was a caricature that came out." “Already before the start of the performance,” he shares his impressions, “when I saw them in costume, I gasped. These two little men, in their essence rather tidy, plump, with decently smoothed hair, found themselves in some awkward, tall gray wigs, tousled, unkempt, disheveled, with huge shirt-fronts pulled out; and on the stage they turned out to be ugly to such an extent that it was simply unbearable.

Meanwhile, the main goal of Gogol is the complete naturalness of the characters and the plausibility of what is happening on the stage. “The less an actor thinks about how to laugh and be funny, the more funny the role he has taken will be revealed. The funny will be revealed by itself precisely in the seriousness with which each of the faces depicted in the comedy is busy with its own business.

An example of such a "natural" manner of performance is the reading of "The Government Inspector" by Gogol himself. Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, who was once present at such a reading, says: “Gogol ... struck me with the extreme simplicity and restraint of his manner, with some important and at the same time naive sincerity, which, as if it doesn’t matter whether there are listeners here and what they think. It seemed that Gogol's only concern was how to delve into the subject, new to him, and how to more accurately convey his own impression. The effect was extraordinary - especially in comic, humorous places; it was impossible not to laugh - a good, healthy laugh; and the culprit of all this fun continued, not embarrassed by the general gaiety and as if inwardly marveling at it, more and more immersed in the matter itself - and only occasionally, on the lips and near the eyes, the craftsman's sly smile trembled almost noticeably. With what bewilderment, with what amazement, Gogol uttered the famous phrase of the mayor about two rats (at the very beginning of the play): “Come, sniff and go away!” He even looked at us slowly, as if asking for an explanation for such an amazing occurrence. It was only then that I realized how completely wrong, superficially, with what desire to make you laugh as soon as possible - the "Inspector General" is usually played on the stage.

Throughout the work on the play, Gogol mercilessly expelled from it all elements of external comedy. According to Gogol, the funny is hidden everywhere, even in the most ordinary details of everyday life. Gogol's laughter is the contrast between what the hero says and how he says it. In the first act, Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky are arguing over which of them should start telling the news.

« Bobchinsky (interrupting). We arrive with Pyotr Ivanovich at the hotel ...

Dobchinsky (interrupting). Eh, allow me, Pyotr Ivanovich, I'll tell you.

Bobchinsky. Eh, no, let me… let me, let me… you don’t even have such a style…

Dobchinsky. And you will go astray and do not remember everything.

Bobchinsky. I remember, by God, I remember. Don't interfere, let me tell you, don't interfere! Tell me, gentlemen, do me a favor so that Pyotr Ivanovich does not interfere.

This comic scene should not only make you laugh. For the characters it is very important which one of them will tell. Their whole life consists in spreading all sorts of gossip and rumors. And suddenly the two got the same news. This is a tragedy. They are arguing over business. Bobchinsky needs to be told everything, not to miss anything. Otherwise, Dobchinsky will complement.

« Bobchinsky. Excuse me, excuse me: I'm all right... So, if you please, I ran to Korobkin's. And not finding Korobkin at home, he turned to Rastakovsky, and not having found Rastakovsky, he went to Ivan Kuzmich to tell him the news you received, and on his way from there, met with Pyotr Ivanovich ...

Dobchinsky (interrupting). Near the booth where pies are sold.

This is a very important detail. And Bobchinsky agrees: "Near the booth where pies are sold."

Why, let us ask again, was Gogol dissatisfied with the premiere? The main reason was not even the farcical nature of the performance - the desire to make the audience laugh - but the fact that, with the caricature style of the game, those sitting in the hall perceived what was happening on stage without applying to themselves, since the characters were exaggeratedly funny. Meanwhile, Gogol's plan was designed just for the opposite perception: to involve the viewer in the performance, to make it feel that the city depicted in the comedy does not exist somewhere, but to some extent in any place in Russia, and the passions and vices of officials are in the heart of each of us. Gogol addresses everyone and everyone. Therein lies the enormous social significance of The Inspector General. This is the meaning of the famous remark of the mayor: “What are you laughing at? Laugh at yourself!" - facing the audience (namely, to the audience, since no one is laughing on the stage at this time). The epigraph also points to this: “There is nothing to blame on the mirror, if the face is crooked.” In the original theatrical commentary on the play - "Theatrical Journey" and "Denomination of the Inspector General", where the audience and actors discuss the comedy, Gogol, as it were, seeks to destroy the wall separating the stage and the auditorium.

In The Inspector General, Gogol made his contemporaries laugh at what they were used to and what they stopped noticing (emphasis mine. - V.V.). But most importantly, they are accustomed to carelessness in spiritual life. The audience laughs at the heroes who die spiritually. Let us turn to examples from the play that show such a death.

The mayor sincerely believes that “there is no person who does not have some sins behind him. It is already so arranged by God Himself, and the Voltairians speak against it in vain.” To which Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin objects: “What do you think, Anton Antonovich, sins? Sins to sins - discord. I tell everyone openly that I take bribes, but why bribes? Greyhound puppies. It's a completely different matter."

The judge is sure that bribes by greyhound puppies cannot be considered as bribes, “but, for example, if someone has a fur coat that costs five hundred rubles, and his wife has a shawl ...”. Here the mayor, having understood the hint, retorts: “But you do not believe in God; you never go to church; but at least I am firm in the faith and go to church every Sunday. And you ... Oh, I know you: if you start talking about the creation of the world, your hair just rises on end. To which Ammos Fedorovich replies: “Yes, he came by himself, with his own mind.”

Gogol is the best commentator on his works. In "Forewarning ..." he remarks about the judge: "He is not even a hunter to do a lie, but a great passion for dog hunting ... He is busy with himself and his mind, and an atheist only because there is room for him to show himself in this field."

The mayor believes that he is firm in faith. The more sincerely he expresses this, the funnier. Going to Khlestakov, he gives orders to his subordinates: “Yes, if they ask why the church was not built at a charitable institution, for which the amount was allocated five years ago, then do not forget to say that it began to be built, but burned down. I submitted a report on this. And then, perhaps, someone, forgetting, will foolishly say that it never even started.

Explaining the image of the mayor, Gogol says: “He feels that he is a sinner; he goes to church, he even thinks that he is firm in the faith, he even thinks someday later to repent. But the temptation of everything that floats into the hands is great, and the blessings of life are tempting, and grabbing everything without missing anything has already become, as it were, just a habit with him.

And now, going to the imaginary auditor, the mayor laments: “Sinful, sinful in many ways ... God only grant that I get away with it as soon as possible, and there I will put a candle like no one else has put: I will put a merchant on every beast deliver three pounds of wax. We see that the mayor has fallen, as it were, into a vicious circle of his sinfulness: in his repentant thoughts, sprouts of new sins appear imperceptibly for him (the merchants will pay for the candle, not he).

Just as the mayor does not feel the sinfulness of his actions, because he does everything according to an old habit, so do the other heroes of the Inspector General. For example, postmaster Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin opens other people's letters solely out of curiosity: “... death loves to know what is new in the world. I can tell you that this is an interesting read. You will read another letter with pleasure - different passages are described in this way ... and what edification ... better than in Moskovskie Vedomosti!

The judge remarks to him: "Look, you will get someday for this." Shpekin exclaims with childish naivety: "Ah, fathers!" It doesn't occur to him that he's doing something illegal. Gogol explains: “The postmaster is a simple-minded to the point of naivety, looking at life as a collection of interesting stories to pass the time, which he recites in printed letters. There is nothing left for an actor to do but to be as simple-hearted as possible.

Innocence, curiosity, the habitual doing of all kinds of lies, the free-thinking of officials upon the appearance of Khlestakov, that is, according to their concepts of the auditor, is suddenly replaced for a moment by an attack of fear inherent in criminals awaiting severe retribution. The same inveterate freethinker Ammos Fedorovich, being in front of Khlestakov, says to himself: “Lord God! I don't know where I'm sitting. Like hot coals under you." And the mayor, in the same position, asks for pardon: “Do not ruin! Wife, small children ... do not make a person unhappy. And further: “Out of inexperience, by God, out of inexperience. Insufficiency of the state ... If you please, judge for yourself: the state salary is not enough even for tea and sugar.

Gogol was especially dissatisfied with the way Khlestakov was played. “The lead role is gone,” he writes, “as I thought. Dyur didn’t understand a hair’s breadth of what Khlestakov was.” Khlestakov is not just a dreamer. He himself does not know what he is saying and what he will say in the next moment. As if someone sitting in him speaks for him, tempting all the heroes of the play through him. Is this not the father of lies himself, that is, the devil? It seems that Gogol had this in mind. The heroes of the play, in response to these temptations, without noticing it themselves, are revealed in all their sinfulness.

Tempted by the crafty Khlestakov himself, as it were, acquired the features of a demon. On May 16 (n. st.), 1844, Gogol wrote to S. T. Aksakov: “All this excitement and mental struggle of yours is nothing more than the work of our common friend, known to everyone, namely, the devil. But you do not lose sight of the fact that he is a clicker and all consists of inflating.<…>You beat this beast in the face and do not be embarrassed by anything. He is like a petty official who has climbed into the city as if for an investigation. The dust will launch everything, bake, scream. One has only to get a little scared and lean back - then he will go to be brave. And as soon as you step on him, he will tighten his tail. We ourselves make a giant out of him ... A proverb is not in vain, but a proverb says: The devil boasted of taking possession of the whole world, but God did not give him power over the pig.1
This proverb refers to the gospel episode when the Lord allowed the demons who left the possessed Gadara to enter the herd of pigs (see: Mk. 5:1-13).

In this description, Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov is seen as such.

The heroes of the play feel more and more a sense of fear, as evidenced by the replicas and the author's remarks. (stretching out and trembling all over). This fear seems to extend to the audience as well. After all, those who were afraid of the auditors were sitting in the hall, but only the real ones - the sovereign. Meanwhile, Gogol, knowing this, called them, in general, Christians, to the fear of God, to the purification of conscience, which would not be afraid of any auditor, not even the Last Judgment. Officials, as if blinded by fear, cannot see the real face of Khlestakov. They always look at their feet, and not at the sky. In The Rule of Living in the World, Gogol explained the reason for such fear in this way: “... everything is exaggerated in our eyes and frightens us. Because we keep our eyes down and do not want to raise them up. For if they were lifted up for a few minutes, then they would see only God and the light from Him emanating from Him, illuminating everything in its present form, and then they would laugh at their own blindness.

The Meaning of the Epigraph and the "Silent Scene"

Regarding the epigraph that appeared later, in the 1842 edition, let's say that this folk proverb means the Gospel under the mirror, which Gogol's contemporaries, who spiritually belonged to the Orthodox Church, knew very well and could even reinforce the understanding of this proverb, for example, Krylov's famous fable " Mirror and Monkey. Here the Monkey, looking in the mirror, addresses the Bear:

“Look,” he says, “my dear godfather!
What kind of a face is that?
What antics and jumps she has!
I would choke myself with longing,
If only she looked a little like her.
But, admit it, there is
Of my gossips, there are five or six such wimps;
I can even count them on my fingers. -
“What are the gossips to consider working,
Isn't it better to turn on yourself, godfather? -
Mishka answered her.
But Mishen'kin's advice just disappeared in vain.

Bishop Varnava (Belyaev), in his fundamental work “Fundamentals of the Art of Holiness” (1920s), connects the meaning of this fable with attacks on the Gospel, and this (among others) was Krylov’s meaning. The spiritual idea of ​​the Gospel as a mirror has long and firmly existed in the Orthodox mind. Thus, for example, St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, one of Gogol's favorite writers, whose writings he re-read many times, says: “Christian! what a mirror is to the sons of this age, let the gospel and the blameless life of Christ be to us. They look in mirrors and correct their bodies and cleanse the vices on their faces.<…>Let us, therefore, put before our spiritual eyes this pure mirror and look into that: is our life in conformity with the life of Christ?

The holy righteous John of Kronstadt, in his diaries published under the title “My Life in Christ,” remarks to “those who do not read the Gospels”: “Are you pure, holy and perfect without reading the Gospel, and you do not need to look into this mirror? Or are you very ugly mentally and are afraid of your ugliness? .. "

In Gogol's extracts from the holy fathers and teachers of the Church we find the following entry: “Those who want to cleanse and whiten their faces usually look in the mirror. Christian! Your mirror is the Lord's commandments; if you put them before you and look closely at them, they will reveal to you all the spots, all the blackness, all the ugliness of your soul.

It is noteworthy that in his letters Gogol turned to this image. So, on December 20 (N.S.), 1844, he wrote to Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin from Frankfurt: “... always keep a book on your desk that would serve as a spiritual mirror for you”; and a week later - to Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova: “Look also at yourself. For this, have a spiritual mirror on the table, that is, some book that your soul can look into ... "

As you know, a Christian will be judged according to the gospel law. In “The denouement of the Inspector General,” Gogol puts into the mouth of the First comic actor the idea that on the day of the Last Judgment we will all find ourselves with “crooked faces”: with which the best of us, do not forget this, will lower their eyes from shame to the ground, and let's see if any of us then have the courage to ask: “Do I have a crooked face?” 2
Here Gogol, in particular, responds to the writer M. N. Zagoskin (his historical novel “Yuri Miloslavsky, or the Russians in 1612” Khlestakov passes off as his own work), who was especially indignant at the epigraph, saying at the same time: “But where do I have crooked face?

It is known that Gogol never parted with the Gospel. “You can’t invent anything higher than what is already in the Gospel,” he said. “How many times has mankind recoiled from it and how many times it has turned.”

It is impossible, of course, to create some other "mirror" like the Gospel. But just as every Christian is obliged to live according to the gospel commandments, imitating Christ (to the best of his human strength), so Gogol the playwright, to the best of his talent, arranges his mirror on the stage. Krylovskaya Monkey could be any of the spectators. However, it turned out that this viewer saw “gossips… five or six”, but not himself. Gogol later spoke of the same thing in an address to readers in Dead Souls: “You will even laugh heartily at Chichikov, maybe even praise the author ... And you will add:“ But you must agree, there are strange and ridiculous people in some provinces , and scoundrels, moreover, considerable! And which of you, full of Christian humility ... will deepen this heavy inquiry into your own soul: “Isn’t there some part of Chichikov in me too?” Yes, no matter how!”

Remark of the mayor - “What are you laughing at? Laugh at yourself!" - which appeared, like the epigraph, in 1842, also has its parallel in Dead Souls. In the tenth chapter, reflecting on the mistakes and delusions of all mankind, the author notes: “Now the current generation sees everything clearly, marvels at delusions, laughs at the folly of its ancestors, not in vain that ... a piercing finger is directed from everywhere at it, at the current generation; but the current generation laughs and arrogantly, proudly begins a series of new delusions, which will also later be laughed at by descendants.

The main idea of ​​The Inspector General is the idea of ​​inevitable spiritual retribution, which every person should expect. Gogol, dissatisfied with the way The Inspector General is staged on the stage and how the audience perceives it, tried to reveal this idea in The Denouement of The Inspector General.

“Look closely at this city, which is displayed in the play! - says Gogol through the mouth of the First comic actor. - Everyone agrees that there is no such city in all of Russia ...<…>Well, what if this is our spiritual city and it sits with each of us?<…>Say what you like, but the auditor who is waiting for us at the door of the coffin is terrible. As if you don't know who this auditor is? What to pretend? This inspector is our awakened conscience, which will make us suddenly and at once look with all eyes at ourselves. Nothing will hide before this auditor, because by the Nominal Supreme command he was sent and will be announced about him when even a step cannot be taken back. Suddenly it will open before you, in you, such a monster that a hair will rise from horror. It is better to revise everything that is in us at the beginning of life, and not at the end of it.

This is about the Last Judgment. And now the final scene of The Inspector General becomes clear. It is a symbolic picture of the Last Judgment. The appearance of a gendarme, announcing the arrival from St. Petersburg "by personal order" of the already real auditor, has a stunning effect on the heroes of the play. Gogol's remark: “The spoken words strike everyone like thunder. The sound of amazement unanimously emanates from the ladies' lips; the whole group, suddenly changing position, remains in petrification" ( my italics. - V. V.).

Gogol attached exceptional importance to this "silent scene". He defines its duration as one and a half minutes, and in "An Excerpt from a Letter ..." he even talks about two or three minutes of "petrification" of the characters. Each of the characters with his whole figure, as it were, shows that he can no longer change anything in his fate, move at least a finger - he is in front of the Judge. According to Gogol's plan, at this moment, silence should come in the hall for general reflection.

In The Denouement, Gogol did not offer a new interpretation of The Inspector General, as is sometimes thought, but only exposed its main idea. On November 2 (N.S.), 1846, he wrote to Ivan Sosnitsky from Nice: “Pay your attention to the last scene of The Government Inspector. Think, think again. From the final piece, "The Examiner's Denouement," you will understand why I am so anxious about this last scene and why it is so important to me that it has its full effect. I am sure that you yourself will look at the “Inspector General” with different eyes after this conclusion, which, for many reasons, could not be issued to me then and only now is possible.

From these words it follows that the "Decoupling" did not give a new meaning to the "silent scene", but only clarified its meaning. Indeed, at the time of the creation of The Inspector General, in Gogol's Notes of 1836, lines appear in Gogol that directly precede the Denouement: “Lent is calm and formidable. A voice seems to be heard: “Stop, Christian; look back at your life."

However, Gogol's interpretation of the county town as a "spiritual city", and its officials as the embodiment of passions rampant in it, made in the spirit of the patristic tradition, came as a surprise to contemporaries and caused rejection. Shchepkin, who was destined for the role of the First comic actor, after reading a new play, refused to play in it. On May 22, 1847, he wrote to Gogol: “... until now I have studied all the heroes of the Inspector General as living people ... Do not give me any hints that these are not officials, but our passions; no, I do not want such a change: these are people, real living people, among whom I have grown up and almost grown old.<…>You have gathered several individuals from the whole world into one collective place, into one group, with these people I became completely related at the age of ten, and you want to take them away from me.

Meanwhile, Gogol's intention did not at all imply the goal of making "living people" - full-blooded artistic images - some kind of allegory. The author only exposed the main idea of ​​the comedy, without which it looks like a simple denunciation of morals. "Inspector" - "Inspector", - answered Gogol Shchepkin around July 10 (N.S.) 1847, - and application to oneself is an indispensable thing that every viewer must do from everything, not even the "Inspector", but which is more fitting for him to do about the "Inspector".

In the second version of the end of Denouement, Gogol explains his idea. Here the First comic actor (Mikhal Mikhalch), in response to the doubt of one of the characters that the interpretation of the play he proposed corresponds to the author's intention, says: . Comedy would then have strayed into allegory, some kind of pale moralizing sermon could have come out of it. No, his job was to portray simply the horror of material unrest, not in an ideal city, but in one that is on earth ...<…>It is his business to depict this dark so strongly that they feel everything that needs to be fought with him, that he will throw the viewer into awe - and the horror of the riots would penetrate him through everything. That's what he had to do. And it's our job to bring morality. We, thank God, are not children. I thought about what kind of moralizing I can draw for myself, and attacked the one that I have just told you.

And further, to the questions of others, why he alone brought out such a remote, according to their concepts, moralizing, Mikhal Mikhalch answers: “Firstly, how do you know that I alone brought this moralizing? And secondly, why do you consider it distant? I think, on the contrary, our own soul is closest to us. I then had my soul in mind, I thought about myself, and therefore I brought out this moralizing. If others had thought of themselves first, they would probably have drawn the same moralizing that I have. But does each of us approach the writer's work, like a bee to a flower, in order to extract from it what we need? No, we are looking for moralizing in everything for others and not for yourself. We are ready to advocate and defend the whole society, cherishing the morality of others and forgetting about our own. After all, we love to laugh at others, and not at ourselves ... "

It is impossible not to notice that these reflections of the protagonist of The Denouement not only do not contradict the content of The Inspector General, but exactly correspond to it. Moreover, the thoughts expressed here are organic for all of Gogol's work.

The idea of ​​the Last Judgment was to be developed in "Dead Souls", since it really follows from the content of the poem. One of the drafts (obviously for the third volume) directly paints a picture of the Last Judgment: “Why didn’t you remember Me, that I am looking at you, that I am yours? Why did you expect rewards and attention and encouragement from people, and not from Me? What then would it be for you to pay attention to how the earthly landowner will spend your money when you have a Heavenly Landowner? Who knows what would have ended if you had reached the end without fear? You would surprise with the greatness of character, you would finally prevail and make you wonder; you would leave a name as an eternal monument of valor, and streams of tears would drop, streams of tears about you, and like a whirlwind you would wave the flame of goodness in your hearts. The steward bowed his head, ashamed, and did not know where to go. And after him, many officials and noble, beautiful people who began to serve and then abandoned the field, sadly bowed their heads. Note that the theme of the Last Judgment permeates all of Gogol's work. 3
Recall, for example, that in the story "The Night Before Christmas" the demon harbored a grudge against the blacksmith Vakula because he portrayed St. Peter in the church on the day of the Last Judgment, driving out an evil spirit from hell.

And this corresponded to his spiritual life, his desire for monasticism. And a monk is a person who has left the world, preparing himself for an answer at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Gogol remained a writer and, as it were, a monk in the world. In his writings, he shows that it is not a person who is bad, but sin acting in him. Orthodox monasticism has always affirmed the same thing. Gogol believed in the power of the artistic word, which could show the way to moral rebirth. It was with this belief that he created The Inspector General.

Comedy in five acts
(final revision - 1851)

There is nothing to blame on the mirror if the face is crooked.

folk proverb

Characters

Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, mayor.
Anna Andreevna, his wife.
Marya Antonovna, his daughter.
Luka Lukich Khlopov, superintendent of schools.
His wife.
Ammos Fedorovich Lyapkin-Tyapkin, judge.
Artemy Filippovich Strawberry, trustee of charitable institutions.
Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin, postmaster.
Pyotr Ivanovich Dobchinsky and Pyotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky - city landowners Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov, an official from St. Petersburg.
Osip, his servant.
Christian Ivanovich Gibner, district physician.
Fedor Ivanovich Lyulyukov and Ivan Lazarevich Rastakovskiy are retired officials, honorary persons in the city.
Stepan Ivanovich Korobkin Stepan Ilyich Ukhovertov, private bailiff.
Svistunov and Pugovitsyn - policemen Derzhimorda Abdulin, a merchant.
Fevronya Petrovna Poshlepkina, locksmith.
Non-commissioned officer's wife.
Mishka, servant of the mayor.
Servant of the tavern.
Guests and guests, merchants, petty bourgeois, petitioners.

Characters and costumes

Notes for gentlemen actors

The mayor, already aged in the service and a very intelligent person in his own way. Although he is a bribe-taker, he behaves very respectably; quite serious; somewhat even a reasoner; speaks neither loudly nor softly, neither more nor less. His every word is significant. His features are rough and hard, like those of anyone who has begun his service from the lower ranks. The transition from fear to joy, from rudeness to arrogance is quite quick, like a person with a roughly developed inclination of the soul. He is dressed, as usual, in his uniform with buttonholes and boots with spurs. His hair is short, with grey.
Anna Andreyevna, his wife, a provincial coquette, not yet quite old, brought up half on novels and albums, half on chores in her pantry and maidens. Very curious and on occasion shows vanity. Sometimes she takes power over her husband only because he does not find what to answer her; but this power extends only to trifles and consists only in reprimands and ridicule. She changes into different dresses four times throughout the play.
Khlestakov, a young man of about twenty-three, thin and thin; somewhat stupid and, as they say, without a king in his head - one of those people who are called empty in the offices. He speaks and acts without any thought. He is unable to stop the constant focus on any thought. His speech is abrupt, and words fly out of his mouth quite unexpectedly. The more the person who plays this role shows sincerity and simplicity, the more he will benefit. Dressed in fashion.
Osip, the servant, is the way servants of a few older years usually are. He speaks earnestly, looks down a little, is a reasoner, and likes to lecture himself for his master. His voice is always almost even, in conversation with the master it takes on a stern, abrupt and even somewhat rude expression. He is smarter than his master and therefore guesses more quickly, but he does not like to talk much and is a rogue in silence. His suit is a gray or worn frock coat.
Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky, both short, short, very curious; extremely similar to each other; both with small bellies; both speak in a patter and help tremendously with gestures and hands.